Crooked Lessons from the Indian Wars / Book Review (original) (raw)
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Reviews in American History, 2018
Several years ago a documentary filmmaker invited me to New York to appear as a "talking head" in a new production about George Armstrong Custer. I felt honored to be asked, but turned him down. I had nothing "new" to say about the man and doubted anyone else did either. Hadn't the topic been exhausted? I went on to suggest a fistful of fresh topics related to Western and Native American history that had been overlooked by filmmakers and the general public. The filmmaker listened, probably with irritation. Needless to say, I never heard from him again. Although I was not sorry I had taken that position, I realize I was misguided on two fronts: first, there is an audience with an insatiable appetite for stories about Custer and the Indian Wars. Second, there are always new audiences who know nothing about these things. Scholars, writers, and filmmakers should continue to produce work that addresses these audiences, appetites, and knowledge-seekers. The collaboration is most satisfying to all, however, when popularizers keep up with and acknowledge the debt they owe to scholars and scholars, for their part, appreciate the special skills filmmakers and popular writers bring to stories that capture the general public's attention. While scholars prefer work that pushes beyond current theories, there is tremendous value in sharing what we "now know" with audiences beyond the academy. Collaboration and mutual respect can create powerful partnerships. Two new books, covering the oft-told tales of warfare among and between Native Americans, Europeans, and Anglo-Americans attempt something along those lines. One will appeal primarily to non-scholars. The other hopes to reach that audience, as well. Both books recount stories familiar to specialists and rest on the work of many scholars, offering a blend of secondary and some
Military Honour, the British Army and American Indians in the Sixty Years' War
Prior to 1755, British-American colonial forces and American Indians (hereinafter Indians) predominantly conducted the military campaigns in the North American theatre of European conflicts. From 1755 to 1815, however, the British Army itself became heavily engaged and had to consider its use of Indians as allies or auxiliaries. Indian War customs, such as torture, mutilation and killing of prisoners and civilians, were at odds with an emerging, although uneven, consensus against these practices in Europe. Therefore, British officials often had to decide if the use of Indians was compatible with their concept of military honour. The purpose of this inquiry is to determine whether the British concept of military honour hindered the effective use of Indians in the era of the Sixty Years' War (l755-1815). The author will attempt to persuade the reader that it did and it ultimately cost the British Empire its direct control of, then even its influence in, the American midwest.
Pennsylvania history, 2007
President Bush and his ever-diminishing number of bellicose supporters like to remind the American public that we are at war. For many Americans since 9/11, the enemy singled out by Bush's administration has eluded rational logic, as "the war on terror" is unspecific. To deflect his "war on terror" in a different direction both rhetorically and militarily, Bush and his commanders chose to invade Iraq in the name of democracy. Since then, Bush's mil itary has tried to impose restrictions, boundaries, and ways of governance on tribal peoples whose values and beliefs radically differ from the west. As throughout history, recent events often times closely resemble those of the past. After the American States policymakers tried to subdue and confine native peoples. Operating much like Bush's administration
Reinventing the Writing of American Indian History in the Twenty-First Century
Journal of American Studies of Turkey, 2020
Studying the history of American Indians today requires an interdisciplinary approach capable of considering both the native peoples' interaction with the Euroamericans and the internal processes occurring in each distinct population. Researching about American Indians implies an exercise in approximation. The practice of ethnohistory helps the scholar find the necessary perspective for a broad, yet punctual, diachronic and synchronic analysis. However, this approach, initiated in the twentieth century, further evolved as scholars started reexamining the ideological roots of some ethnohistorical studies. Recent scholarship has benefited also from the emergence of native historians and ethnohistorians who have contributed to provide their own reading of American Indian culture and history. Moreover, today scholars from different disciplines subscribe to it as the only possible approach to reach a proper understanding of American Indian history and culture.